


Time and Time Again

by integrase



Category: Firebringer - Team StarKid
Genre: But not really pillow talk, F/F, Feelings, Fluff, Pillow Talk, cute wives chat in bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-24
Updated: 2017-09-24
Packaged: 2019-01-04 15:39:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12171834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/integrase/pseuds/integrase
Summary: “Baby,” Jemilla whispers. “Come on, I didn’t just start to like you when you offered to be my wife. I liked you before that.”Zazzalil scrunches her face, quirking an eyebrow, so the taller woman adds, “Like, way before that.”“I can’t tell if you’re serious, J-Mills.”“I am serious. Fuck, I thought it was obvious!"***Canon setting AU, Post-Firebringer. Some fluff where I've gone through the musical and added some perspective to the Jemilla/Zazzalil scenes.





	Time and Time Again

**Author's Note:**

> THIS FANDOM NEEDS AND DESERVES MORE FIC
> 
> catch me at tumblr --> bite-sized-bitch

How long has it been?

How long, wonders Zazzalil, has it been since she and Jemilla became something _for real?_

Time is a tough thing to understand, Zazz knows. Even after Chorn gave all of its knowledge of the Earth to the tribe, time still baffles her. Always flowing forward, never moving backward- always steady, never wavering- sort of like her relationship with Jemilla. Which also baffles her.

The rivalry had been real, thinks Zazzalil. The women always butted heads before, like the beasts of the mountains. They challenged- and still challenge- one another. They fought to be on top, to prove the other wrong, to make sure everyone knew who was the latest winner and loser. Jemilla and Zazzalil. Day and night. _Peacemaker and Firebringer._

But now, it’s all different, even when it’s the same. Before all of this, feelings could be hurt, and the challenge wasn’t always worth it. (Zazz secretly adored how close fighting brought her to Jemilla back then, anyway. And Jemilla could say the same.) Today, when they bicker, it’s not out of malice, but of a place of love.

So how long has it been?

***

Zazzalil rolls over to face Jemilla, whose arms are entangled around the smaller woman. Jemilla wakes at the movement, sleepily opening one blue eye. With a smile, Zazz tilts forward and plants a kiss on the tip of her wife’s nose. Jemilla scrunches her face and gives a happy _hmm_.

“Hi, baby,” says Zazzalil.

_Mm-hmm,_ replies Jemilla.

“I was thinking.”

_Mmm._

“About time, and stuff.”

...

“Hey! Don’t fall back asleep on me, ‘Milla.”

This time, both of Jemilla’s eyes flutter open. She slides a lip forward into a pout, and mumbles, “it’s _time_ to sleep.”

She closes her eyes once more. Zazzalil frowns, but her frustration doesn’t last long. The open door of the hut nearby reveals to her a dark horizon, with just the smallest sliver of sun creeping into sight. Jemilla is, as usual, correct. 

“I’m just . . . awake now. Sorry, babe,” says Zazz.

She lifts and places her forearms behind her head. Jemilla cuddles her wife tighter, lightly rubbing Zazzalil’s bicep, and gives a sleepy smile. The duo lays like this for a few moments. They enjoy the warmth of one another, bodies underneath the woollen blanket Keeri had “knitted”- her amazing creation- for Zazz on her birthday. The women’s breathing is steady. Both are awake now, Zazzalil lost in thought, and Jemilla just happy in the moment.

“You look like that time you realized you couldn’t just burn every mammoth that ran by the tribe,” jokes Jemilla.

“Worst mistake ever,” sighs Zazzalil.

“No, I think me leaving the tribe for so long was worse.”

“Oh no, it was even worse when I snuck out to kill Snarl.”

“That was pretty bad, Zazzy, but what about-”

“It was worst of all before, when I took out all of my frustrations on you, and never told you what was happening with me,” says Zazzalil, bringing her gaze down from the roof to meet Jemilla’s. “And now there’s _us_ and I don’t even know how long it’s been!”

“Hmm?” Jemilla raises her eyebrows.

Zazzalil laughs, having finally articulated what had truly been on her mind all morning. In the ensuing silence, Jemilla squeezes ever closer, laying her head on her wife’s chest. She listens to her breathing.

“God. I don’t know. I guess . . . that I . . . I don’t know, it’s sometimes hard for me to justify in my head why you like me, after I was such a little shit to you for so long,” says Zazz. “And yeah, I know that we accepted and embraced our differences, but fuck, Jemilla, I’m so glad you love me. Despite that, sometimes, I don’t get it.”

Jemilla lets out a long exhale. She exposes her shoulders as she props herself up on an elbow, fist on her cheek. Her sunny auburn hair dangles in her face- she pushes it away. Her face is unreadable to Zazzalil. It’s not angry, or sad, or confused. She actually looks a little . . . smug.

“Baby,” Jemilla whispers. “Come on, I didn’t just start to like you when you offered to be my wife. I liked you before that.”

Zazzalil scrunches her face, quirking an eyebrow, so the taller woman adds, “Like, way before that.”

“I can’t tell if you’re serious, J-Mills.”

“I am serious. Fuck, I thought it was obvious! Schwoopsie knew it.”

“Wow,” says Zazz. She mirrors her wife: elbow propping her up, hand on her face. Jemilla reaches out to grasp the shorter woman’s hip. She is smirking, and Zazzalil secretly loves it.

The sun breaks over the horizon as the two share a deep kiss, Jemilla leaning in to initiate it. Zazzalil’s free arm tangles into the hair on the back of Jemilla’s head. It’s a tender moment in the early morning air. Nearby, songbirds chirp as the earth warms.

They break the kiss, and Zazzalil asks “You know I liked you before this, too.”

Jemilla wipes a speckle of saliva from the corner of her wife’s mouth and grins.

“I guessed. Looks like I’m right again, sweet-cheeks.”

“Haw haw. You’re always right.”

“Joking, Zazzy. But I’m not lying. I figured you were either a little shit because you had a crush on me, or because you envied me,” says Jemilla. “And I hoped it was the first one because leadership is not easy, as you now know.”

“Shit, right?” Zazzalil snorts. “Not easy, at all. Both, though- the answer is both.”

“Ooo, tell me more.”

“What? About me crushing on you, or leading the tribe?” asks Zazz, but she knows the answer. “Ugh, I’m just glad I wasn’t like Emberly and Grunt. At least they’re married now, too.”

Jemilla nods in agreement, but her knowing smile doesn’t waver. She waits for Zazzilil to explain her crush. Her wide, blue eyes look like those of a puppy dog.

“Fine, fine, _fine_. God. Um,” Zazzalil is suddenly very awkward. “Like, do you remember when Keeri invented dancing? Like, the first thing I did was show it off to you. I wanted you to see this cool thing that I was good at. That should have been pretty obvious.”

“It was!” says Jemilla. “Which is why I went ahead and showed off _my_ dancing right away.”

She tries to imitate some of her dance moves, which tough to do while lying on her side. Zazz chuckles at her wife. Grinning, Jemilla rolls her eyes.

“I will admit, I was kind of showing off to everybody. But that includes you too, babe.”

“You always show off.”

“Because I’m good at a lot of stuff. Duh!” Jemilla utters this as she leans toward Zazz, poking at her tummy and waist as to tickle her. Zazzalil tries to smack her hand away and fails. She’s left laughing until Jemilla relents. She then scoots forward to hug her lover around the neck.

“I just thought of another one.” she mutters.

“Is that why you’re hiding?”

“No.” sighs Zazzalil. “Yes.”

“Do tell, Zazzy. Do tell.”

“Okay.” She rolls onto her back, and Jemilla uses the opportunity to snuggle in beside her once again. “There was that whole thing when I thought we could start hunting. And then we started talking about eating babies again. And then I started thinking about how cute your babies would be?”

“ _What?_ ”

“And I couldn’t stop thinking about it?” Zazzalil’s voice pitches and she speeds up. “And then you kissed me on the cheek at the end of it! Like, way to give a girl some heart palpitations!”

Jemilla’s shoulders shake as she gives a full-bodied chuckle. She’s beautiful, Zazzalil thinks.

“I was still pretty pissed you didn’t give my hunting idea a chance. Now look at us, ‘Milla” says Zazz.

“I know, I know.” Jemilla throws an arm over her wife’s chest and plays with the strands of her long brown hair. “I said I’m sorry already.”

“No, I know. I’m just saying.”

“Okay.”

Zazzalil turns her body onto her side so she faces Jemilla. She pulls the heavy blanket up to their shoulders and whispers, “Your turn.”

“My turn?”

“I told you a thing about me liking you. Now you tell me a thing about you liking me.”

Jemilla leans in and smooches Zazzalil on the tip of her nose. She strokes her wife on the chin with the pad of her thumb.

“Hmm. Well, you already know how worried I was when you ran off from the cave in the storm, alone, with just a spear. I know we had fought earlier that day, but I still didn’t want you to get hurt. That’s why I had to to chase you,” explains Jemilla. “But like I said, that was obvious.”

“Well, what, did you chase me because you didn’t want me to get hurt, or because you didn’t want me to get hurt _because_ of you?” replies Zazzalil.

“Babe!” says Jemilla. “You running out in the storm was all your idea. I just didn’t want you to get hurt- I did it for you, Zazzalil.”

“I guess you’re right.” Zazz gives a sheepish look to her wife. “As usual.”

Jemilla laughs and nuzzles Zazzalil’s face. Warmth radiates from her body, cutting through the cool air of dawn. Zazzalil could bask in it.

“Does that count as a turn?”

“Sure,” says Zazzalil. “But man, now I’m thinking about the dumb shit that I said after you rescued me.”

“Ooh, I remember this. You said I have ‘great clothes’ and ‘great hair’, and that I ‘had it together’, right?”

“But besides that, I said some crappy stuff.”

“It’s fine, Zazzy. We’ve talked about your enviousness.” teases Jemilla. “Which I suppose was really a _crush_ all along!”

“Heee-eey,” says Zazz, sticking out her tongue. “It can be both, right?”

“Right.”

Jemilla sits up and stretches her arms above her head. Her wife admires her lithe muscles before sitting up and stretching, too, and asks, “Are we getting up?”

“We don’t have to, yet,” says Jemilla. “Actually, since it’s your turn, I don’t want to. But now I can lay like this-”

She rolls atop Zazzalil such that the blanket covers them both. She crosses her arms and props her chin onto them, all the while nestling onto Zazzalil’s chest. It’s cozy and intimate. Zazz cups one of Jemilla’s cheeks with her hand.

“Cutie.”

They both say it at the same time. Zazzalil busts out laughing first, and Jemilla joins her in a heartbeat.

“Great minds think alike, Zazzybear,” says Jemilla when the giggles subside. “That’s why we’re so perfect together.”

“I wish I had seen it sooner!”

“Me, too,” Jemilla replies. “Anyway, your turn.”

She punctuates her sentence with a kiss to Zazzalil’s palm.

“Okay,” begins Zazz. “Remember when I came to get you at the Neanderthal tribe?”

“Oh, God, I know exactly what you are about to say.”

“What?”

“That I walked out in my new tribe-leader gear and that you thought I was smokin’?”

“No! True, but no.”

“That you were so jealous of my Neanderthal husbands and wives?”  
“Again, J-Mills, true-but-no.”

“What, then?”

“That when I said I’d be your new wife, it wasn’t as spur of the moment as you probably thought it was,” squeaks Zazzalil.

“ _What_.”

“I told you, I liked you for a really long time! When my father- rest his soul- said to little Zazzalil that I could get married one day, my dumb baby ass thought I would ask you to be my wife. And then Schwoopsie beat me to it a few years later,” she says with a shrug.

“So, you’re saying you planned to propose to me all along, or-”

“No no, I’m saying that I had thought about it before, which is probably why I was such a dick to you all the time. It is my hy-po-the-sis that I was overcompensating.”

Zazzalil’s arms fly up to bury her face in the crook of her elbows.

“What about that whole, ‘you’re gonna hold me to that’ afterward, sweet-cheeks?” snorts Jemilla.

“I was genuinely surprised you agreed to it, ‘Milla!” says Zazzalil.

“Fair.”

Jemilla shifts her weight over to the side and with a nod of her head, indicates to Zazzalil she wants to cuddle side-by side again. Zazz complies, and after some quiet shuffling, the two are embracing under the blanket. The air has warmed and the sun has continued to rise, little-by-little, and the chorus of songbirds grows ever louder. Somewhere, someone is chopping wood for the breakfast fire. But the hammering doesn’t break the women’s peace in the hut. Jemilla kisses Zazzalil again, passionately, and Zazzalil can feel her heartbeat pick up. Jemilla’s soft lips are better than she ever imagined.

“How long have we been together?” whispers Zazzalil.

Without missing a beat, Jemilla replies, “Long enough that I know I love you.”

“I love you, too,” says Zazzalil. _And I’ve loved you for years._


End file.
